As a former governor of Delta State, Chief James Ibori,
serves out his prison term in the United Kingdom on December 20, plans have
reached an advanced stage for his defection to the ruling All Progressives
Congress, upon his return to Nigeria.
The Point has learnt Ibori, who was
jailed by a Southwark Crown Court on April 17, 2012, on allegations of fraud
and money laundering, it was learnt, would be returning home to re-build his
political base and also, “take his pound of flesh against his enemies.”The London court eventually sentenced the former governor of
Delta to 13 years in prison, after he pleaded guilty to a 10-count charge of
money laundering and stealing the sum
of $250 million from the treasury. A source, however, said
that the former governor believes that his ordeal in British jail was
masterminded from home by both former President Goodluck Jonathan and elder
statesman, Chief Edwin Clark. It was also gathered that Ibori may have been
scheduled to return to the country on December 23, aboard a chartered jet via
the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos, where his political
associates and family members are expected to give him a red-carpet reception,
before jetting out to the Osubi Airstrip. From the Osubi Airstrip, his convoy
will take off to his palatial country home, situated in Oghara in Ethiope West
Local Government Area of the state.A source confided in The Point that Ibori’s political
associates in Delta State and across the country had lately been engaged in
series of meetings aimed at perfecting the former governor’s defection to the
APC “shortly after his return to Nigeria.”
It was further learnt that the move by Ibori to join the APC
on his return to Nigeria was hatched by his old loyalists, who felt that the
former governor needed a new political machinery and base after serving out his
jail term in the UK, to spite his political foes, believed to be concentrated
in his former party, the Peoples Democratic Party.Another source, however, said that the plan by Ibori and his
loyalists to defect to the ruling party at the centre was to ward off any
re-arrest and fresh prosecution by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission
after his return home. Many of the former governor’s loyalists are, however,
keeping the defection plan very close to their hearts, feigning ignorance and
avoiding comments on the matter.
But, The Point gathered that the former governor had, early
this year, instructed all his loyalists to move to the APC in batches, in
preparation for his return to the country and subsequent defection to the
ruling party.Political observers are of the opinion that Ibori’s return
in December would open a new vista in Delta politics. If feelers reaching The
Point are anything to go by, the formal return of the former governor of Delta
State may change the political equation in the state, since he still remains a
powerful politician, despite his incarceration in a UK prison since 2012.
A politician, who pleaded anonymity, said, “The
Odidigborigbo of Delta politics, as he is fondly called, is one of the most
distinguished sons of the Urhobo nation, who has changed the politics of the
state since he became the governor in 1999.
“There is no politician in the state today, except for the
new breed, that has not being under the tutelage of Chief Ibori. He single
handedly made most politicians we see in the corridors of power today.”
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